Ascetic priest

Only now that we have the ascetic priest in sight can we seriously get to grips with our problem what does the ascetic ideal mean - only now does it become serious after all, we are face to face with the actual represen-... 

But is he really a doctor, this ascetic priest — We already saw the degree to which it is hardly admissible to call him a doctor, much as he feels himself to be a saviour , and likes to be honoured as saviour . It is only suffering itself, the discomfort of the sufferer, that he combats, not its cause, not the actual state of being ill, — this must constitute our most fundamental objection to priestly medication. But if we just put ourselves into the only perspective known to the priests for a moment, it is... 

With regard to this whole type of priestly medication, the guilty kind, every word of criticism is too much. That such an excess of feeling as prescribed by the ascetic priest to his patient (under the holiest of names, as goes without saying, and likewise impregnated with the sanctity of his purpose) should in any way have been really of use to any patient, who... 

Martyrdom was the essential prerequisite for resurrection in the view of the early Christian fathers such as Justin, Irenaeus and Tertullian. After the Last Judgement, the martyrs and ascetics would receive their compensation, rising again with glorified bodies to become priests of God, ruling the earth with him. 

Jerome (c. 347-419), influential church theologian, biblical expert and writer during A. s lifetime. He pursued a career in the imperial service at Trier before abandoning it in favour of monasticism in 370, first at Aquileia, later in Syria where he was ordained a priest. He returned to Rome in 382 and was secretary to Damasus, the bishop of Rome. Following Damasus death, he travelled to Bethlehem where he lived an ascetic life devoted to biblical study and theological controversy. 

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